Speed canoeist Martin Fuksa, who was born on April 30, 1993, has been the best Czech canoeist in recent years and is considered the successor of two-time Olympic champion Martin Doktor.
So far, he has won a total of 27 medals from major championships, is a two-time world champion in the C1 category for 500 meters, an eleven-time European champion and has also won 51 national champion titles in various categories.
A native of Nymburk, Fuksa played hockey as a child, he started canoeing at the age of 13 following the example of his father, two-time C4 world champion Petr Fuksa. He drew significant attention to himself for the first time in 2011, when he became the first Czech junior European champion in the category of single canoeists in Zagreb.
In the same year, he also made his debut at the Adult WC and immediately advanced to the finals in the 500m. A year later, thanks to silver at the EC, he won his first major senior medal.
He became world champion for the first time in 2015 in Milan in the non-Olympic 500m, at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he had medal ambitions, but finished fifth in the kilometer and narrowly failed to advance to the finals in the 200m.
A year later, he won his second world gold at the WC in Račice. The year before last, at the Olympics in Tokyo, he again took fifth place in the 1,000-meter race, and he and his brother Petr were tenth in the double canoe.
Last season was very successful for him. He won the World Cup races in Račice and Poznań at 500 and 1000 meters, took two bronze medals at the World Championships in Halifax, Canada, and in August dominated the European Championships in the 500m.
Petr and Martin Fuks in the heat for the 2020 Olympics. | Photo: Reuters
He won the non-Olympic discipline for the eighth time and defended his victory from the previous year’s championship in Poznań. In Munich, he also took silver on the double track.
“I appreciate all the medals, but the best moment of the season was probably the victory at the European Championships. It’s the eighth victory in a row and hearing the anthem on the podium is special. I don’t celebrate much at the finish, but I was happy. I’m also starting to realize that I don’t know , when was the last time, so I’m enjoying it,” Fuksa evaluated last season, adding that he does not plan to end his career in the near future.
Martin Fuksa is coached by his father Petr and grandfather Josef, and he plans to continue working together in the doubles canoe with his brother Petr, who is five years younger.
